I Survived a Zombie Holocaust

2014 "Shoot, Cut, Stay Alive"
5| 1h44m| en
Details

From the land of early Peter Jackson comes another Braindead movie in bad taste. It’s the third day of shooting the low budget horror ‘Tonight They Come’ on location in the wilds of New Zealand. Director SMP is already beside himself having to work with a self-obsessed leading man and a bimbo actress when into his line of fire comes a new runner, wannabe screenwriter Wesley Pennington. Clearly an accident-prone nerd, Wesley nevertheless tries his best to fit in with the crazed cast and demented crew while falling head over heels for Susan, the set caterer. But something nasty has entered the local water supply and suddenly the zombie extras start acting like genuine members of the living dead, gore stunts looks even more authentic and actual severed limbs fly. Reel life turns real as Wesley attempts to save the day while ensuring his latest script will get made.

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Reviews

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.
Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
Bantam Even though zombie horror in currently en vogue, and the lighter side of it (ie. comedy) has its pearls, this one is actually better than average.This one does the meta-thing: on the set of a zombie movie, a real zombie apocalypse breaks out. And even though the entire movie is laden with clichés, does not mind being trashy and silly, it sill manages to be fun. I assume the budget was tiny, but in my opinion this requires the makes to actually put some thought into the story, the characters and the script. In this case worked out okay.However, there are some shortcomings. Some scenes are a bit too slapstick, some dialogue lines are plain too silly (instead of being funny). Also, the end is, IMO, a bit lackluster. I thought the writers simply had no idea how to finish it properly, so they reverted back to the meta-story. Seems they reference the entire meta-theme here, since the writer of the first meta-movie had also no idea how to end the movie.(Breaking 3rd, 4th wall?) We end, where we started, at the set of low-budget zombie movie. Unfortunately without any explanation on how the characters managed to escape the sticky situation they were in.Spoiler alert: two people stand opposite a whole town turned into zombies. CUT and we're back in the meta-level. Huh?If they would have resolved this little conundrum, the entire movie would be much more fun and more consistent. Apart from that it's another nice NZ production, certainly not en par with Deathgasm or Houseboud, but still fun to watch.
hamish-25851 It's a great core premise: troubled zombie flick's shoot gets overrun with real zombies. It could have been gold, sadly it wasn't.The cast try. The crew do what they can with what's clearly a very limited budget. It's obvious that a lot of local goodwill went in, too. There are some scenes where it's pretty clear that most of the local town turned up and gave it their best shot - look at the rugby game sidelines for what I mean.The trouble with the movie is what isn't there. The lead actor is simply not compelling enough to identify with, even after it's clear that he needs to become a badass if he's going to survive. The comedy feels like it's actors working lines from tight scripts and there's no vibe to it at all. In an area with some of the most compelling scenery and natural light on earth, the whole thing is shot in a generic forest under flat light (honestly, it looks like it was filmed under clouded skies at mid day). The cinematography is fixed cameras at a polite distance with plenty of unused space in most of the shots. The worst is the direction. This movie is staid, bloated, and terribly, terribly slow.It's slow like a glacier is slow. Really.There'll be the inevitable comparisons to homegrown classics like Bad Taste or Braindead. Nope. This isn't anywhere near those movies, at any level, and if you want to see what can be done on a tight budget then look those movies up. I've given a few stars for the sake of the support leads (especially Jocelyn Christian, who deserves better), but that's it.See it if and only if you are making a movie and need to research mistakes to avoid.
BA_Harrison On his first day as a lowly runner on a zombie film, aspiring film-maker Wesley (Harley Neville) meets the girl of his dreams, pretty cook Susan (Jocelyn Christian), but also finds himself fighting for survival against real zombies who have invaded the set.From its broad characters, absurd humour, and outrageous gore, right down to its awkward nerd-turned-hero who falls for a nice 'girl-next-door' in the midst of a zombie epidemic, it seems pretty clear to me that the makers of New Zealand splatter comedy I Survived A Zombie Holocaust set out to emulate Peter Jackson's Brain Dead (Wesley couldn't be more like Lionel if he tried). And for much of the time, they get it right: the gruesome effects are suitably messy, the crazy and sometimes delightfully crass comedy mostly hits the mark, and the cast do well in creating some memorably fun characters.Unfortunately, where the film does suffer is in its pacing: things take an awful long while to get going, and at 104 minutes, 'I Survived…' is far too long to sustain the central joke. Some judicious editing to trim away all of the fat, and this film could have been great rather than just good. As it stands, it is still the second best low-budget Kiwi zombie film I have seen, but with only the disappointing Black Sheep as the other contender (I've yet to see Last Of The Living), I suppose that could be considered faint praise.6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.
Thomas Clement (Mr. OpEd) I usually only give one star to movies I can't be bothered to finish. And this is one.As this is a zombie movie, it takes foreeeeever to get to the actual zombies (the real ones, not the actor zombies). There is a long slog of character development which should have been cut cut cut as most of it is boring and leads no where and pertains to characters who are neither important nor compelling.The acting is fine and there's a couple of chuckles. Gore is OK, but overall, the movie wants to be a comedy but lacks the basics of set-up, timing, and payoff.By the time the film was where I thought it was wrapping up, dang if it wasn't only half way finished. Did they even hire an editor?